State Of Decay Taking Another Crack At Australian Ratings Board

Nate is an aspiring writer and game journalist whose love of games started at a young age. He is always on the lookout for new ways through which to engage the gaming world and enjoys discovering how games affect other parts of popular culture. In addition to his work at GamerHub he is also a staff writer for VGU.TV as well as a volunteer writer for the online publication The Longfellow Bridge.

After being denied certification in Australia, Undead Labs has re-submitted their zombie title State of Decay after making some minor changes.

Developer Undead Labs has re-submitted their popular zombie sandbox State of Decay to the Australian Classifications Board after the game was denied classification for its depiction of player-used stimulants as "drug use related to incentives or rewards."

Undead Labs has since made some tweaks to the game, including rebranding stimulants as “supplements”, to better help it fit in line with the ACB’s standards. A new post on State of Decay’s official Facebook page has been made to celebrate Undead Labs’ confidence that this time the game will be approved:

"Australians, I can OFFICIALLY tell you that the special edition of the game is now in the hands of your review board. Stimulants out! 'Supplements' in! Who could possibly not like vitamins? They're good for you. Anyway, we're feeling pretty optimistic about our chances."

Despite its strict standards, the ACB has actually gotten a fair amount of praise from both developers and publishers because of the specific feedback it offers when reviewing a game for classification. This makes it much easier for developers to find and tweak the elements of their games that don’t meet the ACB’s requirements.